Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight sees one of the Caped Crusader’s most sinister villains genuinely saving the vigilante’s life with an explosion.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Legends of the Dark Knight #6 by Darick Robertson, Richard P. Clark, Diego Rodriguez and Simon Bowland, on sale now.
On occasion, Batman has teamed up with almost all of his villains at one point or another, with some of them even saving his life to further their own goals. It’s happened with Bane, Ra’s al Ghul, Mr. Freeze and Talia in the past, but only Catwoman and a few others have truly turned over a new leaf after years of war. And in Legends of the Dark Knight #6, it’s revealed Riddler also did the same, helping Bruce Wayne evade one of his deadliest fights ever with a well-timed explosion that took out the Scarecrow and his crew.
This story has featured Bruce tracking down a new gas on the market, the most lethal he’s seen. Despite taking down the Russian leader, the Gas Mask Killer, the Caped Crusader has to stop the shipment into Gotham which led him to Riddler.
But rather than run into conflict, Riddler wants to leave the criminal game behind and retire with his newfound love, Quiz. He slips Batman the details in exchange for freedom, but Bruce is outnumbered when he gets to the boat. Scarecrow has an overwhelming number of goons, and there’s not enough room for Batman to maneuver.
This results in him getting punched, kicked, shot and cut up in a bloody battle. However, Scarecrow finds a little gift Riddler left behind as the puzzle-master was angry that Scarecrow would kill Gotham City’s other rogues just so he alone could have the toxin they’ve all been fighting over.
This bomb is wrapped in Riddler’s iconic question-mark paper, signaling his revenge on Scarecrow. Beyond that, it’s karma for Scarecrow who hijacked the boat, took out the Russian leader and tried to steal everything for himself in another double-cross with the seller. As the bomb blows up, Batman barely escapes, swimming in the freezing water and making it to land, groggy and shaken. He was gassed in the previous issues, which explains why he wasn’t at his best and limps home for Alfred to clean up. He’s so damaged, he doesn’t care who died in the blast, who made it out and who could potentially find the canisters at the bottom of the ocean.
Ultimately, Batman is just glad to make it home in one piece, leaving the scene for Jim Gordon and the cops to clean up, thanks to the complexities of the Riddler, who found an explosive way to show his thanks to the Dark Knight.
Batman knows he went into battle weaker than usual, and if not for Riddler, he’d be dead. As the battered Batman washes up in the shower, he does appreciate what his former enemy did. It didn’t just save Batman, the Riddler may well have saved the city too and prevented a few more new fights with his lifelong rival.
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